


Solstice

by helens78



Category: Equilibrium (2002)
Genre: Holiday, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-25
Updated: 2003-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-05 11:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helens78/pseuds/helens78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Clerics are supposed to be extra alert on days people used to celebrate as holidays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solstice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Telesilla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telesilla/gifts), [darkrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkrose/gifts).



Partridge was old enough to remember Christmas, although his memories of it were quite vague. Religion had been one of the first things to go in the early days of the new world order and the Tetragrammaton, and by the time he was twelve, there were no more winter holiday celebrations. Christmas was gone. Hannukah was gone. Kwanzaa was a memory.

The Tetragrammaton could not outlaw the winter solstice -- but they could reduce it to a matter of scientific fact, reminding those who gathered and wished each other well as the days finally grew longer again that there was nothing significant about the solstice. It, like the summer solstice, was simply an arbitrary day marking an astronomical event that was determined by physics.

For the first few years after the holidays had been outlawed, people still gathered. They'd exchange gifts, and they'd have dinners with all their friends and relatives, and even if they couldn't mention the holidays by name, at least they all knew why they were gathering.

Gradually, with the introduction of Prozium, so few people remembered the winter holidays that it was hardly worth trying to celebrate them. And although many people remembered a time when they took the last week in December off work, it seemed inefficient to have so many people choosing the same week for leisure time. And so leisure time was staggered, new laws written to assign people to certain weeks of the year, the particular week for each person chosen at random.

The calendar on Partridge's desk was a simple one, noting the day of the week and the date. _Thursday, December 22, 2142._ He glanced up at his partner and gestured to the calendar.

"Do you know the significance of today's date, Cleric?" Partridge asked.

Preston thought about it for a few moments, then nodded. "Today is the winter solstice, Cleric. In the Northern Hemisphere, today is the shortest day of the year."

Partridge nodded. "Excellent memory, Cleric."

"I believe we might wish to consider extending our patrol for an extra hour tonight," Preston said, shifting his posture and lacing his hands behind his back. "I am told that before the advent of Prozium, many people celebrated the days around the solstice with religious rituals."

"That's true enough," Partridge allowed. "What makes you think we need to extend our patrol, John?"

"Religion has been one of the most difficult sense offenses to stamp out," Preston said, bowing his head slightly. Partridge so seldom used his first name, and whenever he did, it gave Preston a slight sense of uneasiness -- as if he didn't quite deserve to hear his own name coming off someone's lips in that way. As if his own name could present a sense offense, given enough time.

"Respectfully, John, I disagree," Partridge said. "I think the existence of more patrols at this time of year would send the populace a message: that the Tetragrammaton _fears_ the winter holidays. The shreds of resistance we are still fighting to stamp out would be heartened by such a message, I think."

Preston went silent. After a while, he nodded, and his posture relaxed. "You're right, as always, Cleric. To assume a sense offense exists is sometimes to call it into being. We'll run our usual patrol tonight."

"Very good, Cleric." Partridge nodded as well, and turned back to his desk. "And our plans for the rest of the evening? Unaltered, I presume?"

Thursday evening. Thursdays were spent at Partridge's apartment, sharpening Preston's rhetorical skills. Partridge would present the arguments sense offenders gave for their behavior, and Preston would take the arguments apart one-by-one with a combination of logic and memorized arguments devised by the Tetragrammaton.

Partridge never seemed ruffled by these evenings, and Preston did his best to remain as emotionless and neutral as his partner. The truth was, Thursday evenings left him unsettled, uncertain about whether the arguments used by the Tetragrammaton were as convincing as they ought to be. There were times he almost felt himself responding to Partridge's quiet logic and reasoned arguments, despite knowing what danger _feeling_ could cause in the populace at large.

"Perhaps we could explore the winter holidays in tonight's debate," Partridge suggested. "The sense offenders have many arguments as to why the winter holidays are important. Do you remember the accepted reasons for outlawing them, John?"

"Some of them," Preston admitted, "but not all."

Partridge raised an eyebrow. "I suggest you study, then, or I may have you wishing me a happy solstice by the time the evening's out."

"Father forbid," Preston said. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I have thirty-six minutes before our patrol begins. I'll use that time to review the arguments against winter holidays."

"A good idea," Partridge agreed. "Study well, John."

Preston went back to his own desk and recalled the appropriate information on his terminal, resting his chin in his hand as he read. If Partridge's eyes lingered on him as he studied, Preston took no notice.

_-end-_


End file.
